Buoyed by its successful association with Indian hockey, theOdishagovernment on Monday decided to build 89 multi-purpose indoor stadiums within 18 months at an estimated cost of Rs 693.35 crore.

The disaster-prone coastalstatehas decided to construct the stadiums in such a way that these can also be used as cyclone and flood shelters if needed.

For Health emergency, the Sports facilities can also be converted into 50 to 100-bed field hospitals, the need of which was felt during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Government sources said two models would be followed while building the stadiums. For smaller townships or notified area councils (NACs), the structures will be comparatively smaller, to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 6.40 crore each.

For municipal towns and cities, these would be bigger and cost around Rs 10.15 crore each.